In all my years of architecture school and practice, there seems to be a pervasive myth that my job is pretty and easy. Here, I reveal the painful, ugly truth about why it takes so long to build a building, what it is exactly that we do, and why that's not creamer you smell in my coffee.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

As I ponder ways to post on MHRC without giving away too much, I'm itching to show you all about Operation Clean This Place Up. A major point of the renovation was the bed. Guy and I bought a new queen-sized mattress in 2001 when we moved in together in the condo, and not even six years later it was feeling cramped, lumpy, saggy, and uncomfortable. We debated getting a new mattress for a long-ass time, probably on and off for at least a year. In recent months, we'd finally decided that we needed a) a new mattress and b) it had to be a king. The two of us, plus any critter or critters, is just too much. Even without a pet on the bed, I often found myself rolling over at night searching for comfort, only to end up with Guy's knee planted squarely in my ass. He in turn often got one of my arms in his side or, worse, in his face. Plus, the motion of our mattress transferred from one side to the other, definitely not a good thing when we have different sleep schedules. I'm 9:30pm to 6am, while Guy is more like midnight to 7:30am.

We looked into our options and thought seriously about a Sleep Number bed. They're expensive, which made Guy pause, but they carried a nice, long warranty and seemed more able to live up to that guarantee. After all, they were made of inflatable air chambers--if things got saggy, you just pumped a little more air into it. Right? We also realized that if we got a king mattress, we would be in need of a new bed as well. My turn to pause: we still use the bedroom suit that my dad bought me when I was 13 and we moved into a new house, and I was more than hesitant to get rid of my headboard, or any part of my suite for that matter. It was time for research then. We (okay, moslty Guy) surfed the Web extensively to find deals on a Sleep Number king mattress as well as a king bed frame that was low profile, modern, and wouldn't clash with my pale burlwood Thomasville furniture from 1987.

We found the following:

This is a bedframe from West Elm. It's a king size platform bed, but you have to buy the wood slats shown here separately. Guy put the bedframe and slats together in under an hour. It would have been less than that, but I insisted on helping. It shipped to us in two boxes, I think: one for the bed and one for the slats. The slats were stapled together with canvas strips so that they rolled out in the frame. Total cost of frame and slats plus shipping and taxes: $336.

Here it is with the Sleep Number mattress on it (plus comforter and Maddy):

You can see my old headboard is still in place. It's a little short of each side, but not bad looking overall. We decided to go with the Sleep Number after a great deal of research. Guy's research showed that most people who were unhappy with the Sleep Number bed were overweight to the point of obesity, a description that fits neither of us. We spent a night at a Radisson Hotel, which has the Sleep Number beds in its rooms, so we tried it out and felt pretty satisfied with it. We managed to get a decent discount on it by a) not buying the box frame that the Select Comfort company sells, by b) buying the 3000 model, the lowest model, and by c) buying it in the store instead of online. The company way overcharges for a box spring, the only purpose of which is really to raise the mattress up off of the floor, and any model above the 3000 is charging you for extra padding on top of the mattress and for the pleasure of knowing you exact sleep number. We have two air chambers (one for each side), 1" of foam on top of the mattress, and we each have a controller that just says "softer" and "firmer". They charge you an extra $250 for digital controllers. Funnily enough, when we read that on the website, Guy and I said in unison, "Fuck that shit."

It's so nice to be on the same wavelength as your partner.

Also, we got an extra $100 off for buying it in the store, as they managed to have some promotion going on when we decided to buy. Often they'll have some deal like "no interest payments for a year", which is a great deal as long as you can be diligent and pay it off before the interest starts. So, cost of Sleep Number 3000 model king size mattress only, plus tax and shipping: $754.

The above photo also shows some brown sheets, which we bought new at Target the day we set up the bed. For some decently soft cotton sheets from Target, we spent about $50. We later bought two king-size pillows (about $26), a king comforter (middle of the road, three-season, down alternative fill, about $100), and a comforter/duvet cover that came with two fancy pillow shams (on clearance for about $40) at Bed Bath & Beyond. The comforter shown on the bed in the photo above is a queen-sized down alternative comforter by Scandia Down that Miss Kitty bought me back in 2000. We're keeping it for guests...

2 comments:

When I looked to buy a mattress, I couldn’t decide whether to buy a regular mattress or go for a Memory Foam Mattress. In the end I decide on the memory foam and went looking for a Cheap memory Foam Mattress I found one and it was the best decision of my life! I highly recommend them! Did my back wonders too! :-)

About Me

I'm a (finally) licensed architect out here in the wild, wild West who kicks butts and punches lists. I focus on designing hospitals, which--between the program and the clients--is a real challenge. I like what I do for a living, and have the site observation photos to prove it. My job is part designer, part technician, part software guru, part counselor, part therapist, part spiritual guide, and part repo man. So don't toy with me, or I'll refuse to sign your Pay Application.

Note and Disclaimer

The content on this blog is not approved by my employers, fellow employees, or any professional organization involved in the design or construction industry. The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and should not be considered representative of the opinions of my employers or my profession.
Any professional opinions, design concepts, layouts, and details should be taken with a grain of salt and a large margarita. This blog should not be used in place of consulting a design or construction professional in person, nor should it be a substitute for having a professional review your particular project.
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No, I will not design your deck for you.